MoJoe: Biden Matters More Than Ever

A recurring story surfaces in virtually every recent presidential administration: The vice president, whoever he may be, is in decline. It’s an occupational hazard of holding the nation’s second office to read your political obituary routinely, and Joe Biden has not escaped this feature of his job, especially of late.

Earlier this fall, it was reports that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had told the White House that he, not Biden, would negotiate with the Republicans over the government shutdown and raising the debt limit that set Washington tongues wagging that Biden had been marginalized. On top of that, a steady stream of stories has suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is ahead of Biden for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, feeding the narrative that Biden’s best days are in the past—even more than two years before the first primary or caucus and with neither Biden nor Clinton having declared.

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Don’t believe it. Joe Biden still very much matters. As the veep’s recent week-long trip to Asia attests, not only are reports of his political demise badly mistaken, but he remains a highly consequential vice president whose service is a testament to the impressive growth of the office he holds and to his success in handling the duties that have come his way.

Just look at the agenda for Biden’s trip to Japan, China and South Korea last week—fostering bilateral relations with three important countries, advancing a key trade pact, addressing the specter of a nuclear North Korea, discussing various global concerns like climate change. And that was before China provocatively decided to establish a large air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, a move that upset the United States, Japan and South Korea. With a demanding set of challenges before him, Biden made big news multiple times in the course of the week, forcefully challenging Beijing, including in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but without antagonizing his hosts; criticizing the Chinese government’s treatment of American journalists; and, most recently, seeing the release of an American tourist who had been detained for more than a month in North Korea (though Biden denied playing a direct role in the negotiations).

You don’t get tasked with such a sensitive mission under these circumstances unless you enjoy the highest degree of confidence of the president who sent you. And you don’t get anywhere on such a trip unless you are perceived by the receiving governments as enjoying that trust. Until recently, vice presidents didn’t take such momentous voyages, and even in modern times not all vice presidents have. Biden does—regularly.

Being vice president has never been easy. For most of American history, the primary ongoing function of the office granted in the Constitution—presiding over the Senate—was not burdensome, but the associated inactivity and boredom taxed the stamina, patience and perhaps even sanity of all but the most sedentary VPs. (Thomas Marshall, who served as Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, wrote in the 1920s that “[t]he only business of the Vice President is to ring the White House bell every morning and ask what is the state of the health of the president.”) During the 20th century, beginning as early as the Harding administration, the office gradually began to move toward the executive branch, as some vice presidents began to meet with the Cabinet and later assumed some presidential assignments. But these grants were often relatively minor, sometimes demeaning, and vice presidents generally remained peripheral to the important work of the administration.

Until recently, vice presidents didn’t take such momentous voyages, and even in modern times not all vice presidents have. Biden does—regularly.

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That changed in 1977. President Jimmy Carter’s veep, Walter Mondale, figured out how the vice president could contribute as a general adviser and troubleshooter. Carter welcomed his help and gave Mondale the resources he needed to operate in those two roles: Mondale helped to secure ratification of the Panama Canal treaties, worked to reform America’s intelligence agencies, spearheaded international action to save Indochinese refugees and took diplomatic trips to reassure European allies, advance the Middle East peace process and help normalize relations with China. Together, the duo made the second office robust, a pretty impressive achievement given its dismal history.

Although subsequent vice presidents have varied in their relative significance, they have largely adopted the Carter-Mondale innovations and preserved those resources. Each saw the president regularly, often alone or in very small groups, in addition to taking on significant assignments. Just think of George H.W. Bush using his diplomatic skills on a range of foreign missions for President Ronald Reagan, including meetings with a succession of Soviet leaders; or Dan Quayle chairing the White House Council of Competitiveness, which incubated many domestic policy initiatives, in addition to playing an active role in relations with Latin America; or Al Gore leading bilateral commissions with Russia, South Africa and Egypt, overseeing environmental and telecommunications policy and managing President Clinton’s Reinventing Government initiative; or, of course, Dick Cheney serving as a principal architect of President George W. Bush’s national security policy. In an age when many political institutions have become dysfunctional and trended downward, the surging trajectory of the vice presidency stands in marked contrast.

Although the Mondale model made vice presidents consequential and their job interesting, that didn’t make it easy. In part, the challenges that come with the role today are inherent in the problems modern vice presidents address. The simple stuff gets handled at lower pay grades, by advisers and aides, assistant secretaries and even some Cabinet members. Somewhat like presidents, vice presidents now draw tasks that require the stature, authority and skill of those at the highest level. A capable vice president expands the executive branch’s ability to address the many problems it faces.